Appliance manufacturer Beko has issued an urgent safety warning for some of its tumble dryers after one model killed a mother of two.

The appliance maker said 3,450 of its 8kg and 9kg tumble dryers could have a potentially fatal fault which is caused by a third-party component, reports The Indpendent.

The company urged anyone who owns model numbers DCU9330W, DCU9330R, DCU8230, DSC85W and TKF8439A to immediately stop using it. They should also unplug it. The machines affected were sold between May and November 2012.

A voluntary repair programme is now underway.

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Beko's statement said: “As part of our ongoing monitoring we have identified a batch issue with a third party supplied component which in rare circumstances could fail and overheat, which could lead to a risk of fire.

"As a responsible manufacturer, we have decided to proactively contact the owners of these condenser tumble dryers to offer a free of charge in-home check and to modify affected products to remove any potential risk. This is completely free of charge and will take no longer than 30 minutes."

Beko asked consumers to check the model and serial number of their dryer. Affected customers should register for an engineer to check the machine and repair if necessary, the company said.